Happy New Year to you and all our Old Boys. I trust that 2017 is a successful and happy one for everyone. The December/January months are not the busiest for school activities but there have been a number of people active over the holiday period...

 

Our annual Cricket Match is set for Sunday, January 15^th and there are still places available for those keen for a great day out in the Matapihi sunshine. It is a very social occasion with T20 cricket played and teams organized on the day. We play at the picturesque private ground owned by New Zealand Cricket Board member Neil Craig with a start around 10 a.m. and lunch served between games. Max Heimann has kindly offered to be on the BBQ again. Please let me know (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if you are a starter as soon as possible so I can organize catering.

 

At least two Old Boys were recognized in the New Years Honours list. Tom Roper was awarded the Queens Service Medal for his services to the Community.  He has recently set up the Hillsdene Charitable Trust but has supported a large number of local groups including the Waipuna Hospice and Riding for the Disabled and formed Tauranga Mainstreet . Yachtie Peter Burling (along with his sailing partner Blair Tuke) have been made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Peter competed at the Beijing Olympics while still at school and has gone on to win a silver medal in London before gold in Rio. His attention in 2017 will be on looking to win the America’s Cup as helmsman on Emirates Team New Zealand.

 

Highly respected Te Awanuiarangi Black, who taught in the Bilingual Department for a number of years, passed away after a short illness at the age of 48. Since leaving TBC Awanui  had made a huge contribution to the Maori community as Tauranga Moana Iwi Leaders’ Group chairman, a Treaty negotiator, lecturer at Te Wananga o Raukawa and commissioner at the Maori Language Commission.

 

A number of our Year 13 students have the opportunity to undertake Universitystudy while still at school. University of Waikato results were recently posted with several TBC students performing outstandingly. In First Year Physics Jordan Roberts-Radford topped the Exam with 95% and gained 2^nd place overall while Jonathan Dallas was 3^rd in the Exam and 4^th overall.  In Chemistry Jordan, along with Matthew Ashton, both got A+ results.

The Hockey Turf at TBC is in the process of being renewed after 12 years of great service. The school has a large quantity of the old Tiger Turf to dispose of. If anyone would like some of this material, which is still in reasonable condition for a number of purposes, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

  

A number of boys went to the Secondary Schools National Championships with the outstanding performance being that of Thomas Rawstron in taking out the Senior Long Jump title.  His winning leap was 7.26 m. –just 4 cm. short of the record which has stood for more than 25 years. Other good performances came from Josh Tisch who made the final of the Junior 800m. while Lachlan Haycock  was 6^thin the 2000m. Steeplechase – an event he will still have 2 more years competing in.

 

Four Junior Volleyball teams competed in the North Island Championships in Wellington at the end of last year. Our Junior A team lost only one match all tournament but unfortunately it was their quarter final which meant they finally placed 5^th. The Year 9 team performed well to make the top 16 teams in the tournament while Quaide Forbes and Jack McManaway were both named in the tournament team.

Shaun Gwillim placed 2^nd in the C grade 20 guage New Zealand Skeet Championships and was selected in the NZ Junior Skeet team.

 

Our Junior tennis team has an annual quadrangular tournament against Napier, New Plymouth and Palmerston North which TBC hosted in December. Comfortable wins against Napier and New Plymouth saw the final match up against Palmerston North the final. The 4 singles and 2 doubles matches were tied 3 all but TBC took out the trophy on count back having won an extra set !!

Two members of the 2016 1^st XI have debuted for the Bay of Plenty Senior Mens’ team this season. Gurwinder Singh (opening Bowler) and Iman Singh ( a Year 11 leg spinner) follow in the footsteps of the likes of  Kane Williamson, Bharat Popli, Daniel Flynn and Joe Carter who have all made their Senior Representative debuts while still at school.

 

A number of our students have been selected in High Performance training groups by the National body. After impressive performances in the Half the Lake Taupo 80 km. race, which saw Fergus Hamilton pip Matthew Lochhead in a photo-finish, both boys were named in the NZ Junior Under 19 Development Squad while  Mountain Biker Jack Wilson has been named in the National Performance Hub.

 

After competing in the Condor Sevens 1^st XV half back Leroy Carter was named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sevens team.

 

Since leaving school and TBC’s Big Band Joe Thomas has completed a Music Degree and been a member of the widely acclaimed New Zealand Army Band. He will again display his trombone skills on the world stage as part of  the National Band of New Zealand as they compete in the World Championships in Holland in July.

 

Old Boy James Rolleston is making slow progress after a serious car accident last July that saw him unconscious for 4 weeks. The star of “Boy” has had to relearn how to talk and walk  and will take a year out from his acting career

 

2013 Head Prefect Mungo Mason has been named in the Waikato Sevens rugby team after playing for the Waikato Development team in the 2016 season.

 

Kane Williamson has just led the Black Caps to a series ODI against against the touring Bangladeshis and won Man Of the Match as he top scored in the first T20 game of the series with a career best 73 *.  In the first match of their tour the visitors encountered Old Boys Bharat Popli and Brett Hampton in a New Zealand selection. In the match reduced to 43 overs because of rain Hampton took 2/44 in the Bangladesh total of 245/8. In reply Popli scored 45 off 48 balls batting at No.3 but when Hampton arrived at the crease it was 199/7 things didn’t look great. Undeterred Hampton helped see NZ through to victory with 29*  in an unbeaten 8^th wicket partnership.

 

I hope 2017 is an excellent year to you all. Please pass on any news that you think would be of interest to our Old Boys.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Rob Leslie.